Popper: 20 years later, Drazen Petrovic tragedy still stings

By STEVE POPPER

STAFF WRITER |

The Record

There may be no other person in NBA history more associated with courage than Willis Reed, whose hobbled walk onto the court remains the standard of toughness by which athletes are measured to this day.

But when Reed picked up the phone at his home in Louisiana this week and heard the topic that led to the call, he’s quiet for a moment, choked up, and barely able to speak.

What Reed doesn’t want to be reminded of is something that he knows he can’t forget.

It is 20 years ago today that Drazen Petrovic died in a horrible car wreck on a rain-soaked autobahn in Ingolstadt, Germany. After playing a game in Poland with the Croatian National team, Petrovic did not fly with the team and detoured to Munich to meet his girlfriend, model Klara Szalantzy. She did the driving to Frankfurt, where Petrovic was to reunite with the team. Petrovic was in the passenger seat of a Volkswagen Golf, and a friend of Szalantzy was in the back seat.

A truck had crashed, blocking the entire no-speed-limit highway. As the truck driver tried to warn oncoming traffic, Petrovic’s vehicle was moving too fast on the slick road. In an instant, it was over. Petrovic, sleeping in the passenger seat without a seat belt, flew through the windshield and slammed into the truck. The police declared him dead at the scene.

In that instant, one that has haunted those who knew him, loved him, respected him, and competed with him, Petrovic was gone.

“When I first got the call I didn’t believe it,” said Reed, who was general manager of the Nets at the time. “I knew he was playing with the Croatian National team and I just couldn’t believe it.

“Then I started getting details of what happened. It really tugs at my heart. It’s one of those things that you went though and you’ll never get over. I won’t. I know I won’t.”

It hit Reed hard, but he was just one of many. Petrovic wasn’t just an athlete. It’s simple to say that in memoriam, but it’s true. He was among the first European players to make the move to the NBA, and he was the first one who was different. He wasn’t mechanical or fundamentally sound. He was a Croatian combination of Pete Maravich, Michael Jordan and Manu Ginobili.

A deadly shooter with a competitive streak that Jordan admitted rivaled his own, Petrovic was a star of mythic proportions before he came to the NBA. He scored 112 points in a game for Cibona in the Yugoslavian League, and averaged 37.7 points during his four years with the team.

He joined the Portland Trail Blazers as a third-round pick and got stuck behind Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter in the backcourt. A trade landed him in New Jersey. Given a chance, he reached the beginnings of the stardom he’d sought, earning third-team All-NBA honors in his final season with the Nets. He and Derrick Coleman helped a team on the rise earn a playoff berth.

And just like that, he was gone. Reed went to the services in New York, saw the outpouring of grief, and broke down in tears. The burly 6-foot-10 executive was crushed by the loss of a 28-year-old with passion and heart.

Reed knew Petrovic was a star, but not how big a personality he was until he went to Croatia for the remaining services. He represented the Nets along with Petrovic’s teammates, Chris Dudley and Chris Morris. There were more than 6,000 people crammed into the main sports arena in Zagreb, and the city streets were lined with fans.

“It was like a funeral for a dignitary,” Reed said. “I think every Croatian in the world knew who Drazen Petrovic was. We all mourned. I knew he was famous, but it was bigger than you could imagine. But I think the way it happened, a sudden moment, you wake up one day and it’s done … he passed on, [and] that was what was such a shock.”

Years later, Coleman referred to Petrovic’s death as a turning point of the franchise’s downhill spiral. One more year above .500, then Chuck Daly departed as coach and the Nets went into ruins until Jason Kidd arrived almost a decade later.

It wasn’t just the scoring ability you remember. It’s easy to find a video on the web of Petrovic with his arms raised in joy, a familiar sight for Nets fans. He was fun. He would put on shooting exhibitions in practice, clearing out the crop of elderly pickup games at the APA Trucking facility in North Bergen. He fired up countless three-point field goals, hitting a shot from the corner, catching it as it came through the net, and running to the opposite corner, where he would drain another. I counted 25 straight without stopping one morning.

In games he was a competitor, but it still was a game. He spoke to reporters on press row in Detroit when he took the court in the final game of the 1991-92 season, asking for the math needed for him to take the league lead in three-point field-goal percentage.

He hit his first and ran by to check the numbers again. He fell short, but still seemed pleased just to try.

“He brought a lot of happiness to a lot of people,” Reed said. “A lot of people admired him. He was a great, great player and a great person.

“It was a tragic loss to his mom and dad and family, and to the Croatian nation. And it was a tragic loss for the Nets. It really was.”

Email: popper@northjersey.com

Drazen Petrovic of the Nets attempting to drive on the Spurs' Lloyd Daniels on Dec. 4, 1992.

Popper: 20 years later, Drazen Petrovic tragedy still stings

Drazen Petrovic of the Nets attempting to drive on the Spurs' Lloyd Daniels on Dec. 4, 1992.

By STEVE POPPER

STAFF WRITER |

The Record

There may be no other person in NBA history more associated with courage than Willis Reed, whose hobbled walk onto the court remains the standard of toughness by which athletes are measured to this day.

But when Reed picked up the phone at his home in Louisiana this week and heard the topic that led to the call, he’s quiet for a moment, choked up, and barely able to speak.

What Reed doesn’t want to be reminded of is something that he knows he can’t forget.

It is 20 years ago today that Drazen Petrovic died in a horrible car wreck on a rain-soaked autobahn in Ingolstadt, Germany. After playing a game in Poland with the Croatian National team, Petrovic did not fly with the team and detoured to Munich to meet his girlfriend, model Klara Szalantzy. She did the driving to Frankfurt, where Petrovic was to reunite with the team. Petrovic was in the passenger seat of a Volkswagen Golf, and a friend of Szalantzy was in the back seat.

A truck had crashed, blocking the entire no-speed-limit highway. As the truck driver tried to warn oncoming traffic, Petrovic’s vehicle was moving too fast on the slick road. In an instant, it was over. Petrovic, sleeping in the passenger seat without a seat belt, flew through the windshield and slammed into the truck. The police declared him dead at the scene.

In that instant, one that has haunted those who knew him, loved him, respected him, and competed with him, Petrovic was gone.

“When I first got the call I didn’t believe it,” said Reed, who was general manager of the Nets at the time. “I knew he was playing with the Croatian National team and I just couldn’t believe it.

“Then I started getting details of what happened. It really tugs at my heart. It’s one of those things that you went though and you’ll never get over. I won’t. I know I won’t.”

It hit Reed hard, but he was just one of many. Petrovic wasn’t just an athlete. It’s simple to say that in memoriam, but it’s true. He was among the first European players to make the move to the NBA, and he was the first one who was different. He wasn’t mechanical or fundamentally sound. He was a Croatian combination of Pete Maravich, Michael Jordan and Manu Ginobili.

A deadly shooter with a competitive streak that Jordan admitted rivaled his own, Petrovic was a star of mythic proportions before he came to the NBA. He scored 112 points in a game for Cibona in the Yugoslavian League, and averaged 37.7 points during his four years with the team.

He joined the Portland Trail Blazers as a third-round pick and got stuck behind Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter in the backcourt. A trade landed him in New Jersey. Given a chance, he reached the beginnings of the stardom he’d sought, earning third-team All-NBA honors in his final season with the Nets. He and Derrick Coleman helped a team on the rise earn a playoff berth.

And just like that, he was gone. Reed went to the services in New York, saw the outpouring of grief, and broke down in tears. The burly 6-foot-10 executive was crushed by the loss of a 28-year-old with passion and heart.

Reed knew Petrovic was a star, but not how big a personality he was until he went to Croatia for the remaining services. He represented the Nets along with Petrovic’s teammates, Chris Dudley and Chris Morris. There were more than 6,000 people crammed into the main sports arena in Zagreb, and the city streets were lined with fans.

“It was like a funeral for a dignitary,” Reed said. “I think every Croatian in the world knew who Drazen Petrovic was. We all mourned. I knew he was famous, but it was bigger than you could imagine. But I think the way it happened, a sudden moment, you wake up one day and it’s done … he passed on, [and] that was what was such a shock.”

Years later, Coleman referred to Petrovic’s death as a turning point of the franchise’s downhill spiral. One more year above .500, then Chuck Daly departed as coach and the Nets went into ruins until Jason Kidd arrived almost a decade later.

It wasn’t just the scoring ability you remember. It’s easy to find a video on the web of Petrovic with his arms raised in joy, a familiar sight for Nets fans. He was fun. He would put on shooting exhibitions in practice, clearing out the crop of elderly pickup games at the APA Trucking facility in North Bergen. He fired up countless three-point field goals, hitting a shot from the corner, catching it as it came through the net, and running to the opposite corner, where he would drain another. I counted 25 straight without stopping one morning.

In games he was a competitor, but it still was a game. He spoke to reporters on press row in Detroit when he took the court in the final game of the 1991-92 season, asking for the math needed for him to take the league lead in three-point field-goal percentage.

He hit his first and ran by to check the numbers again. He fell short, but still seemed pleased just to try.

“He brought a lot of happiness to a lot of people,” Reed said. “A lot of people admired him. He was a great, great player and a great person.

“It was a tragic loss to his mom and dad and family, and to the Croatian nation. And it was a tragic loss for the Nets. It really was.”